# 2 High Profile Mysterious Disappearances: The Castaneda Cult and Justice Crater

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 7 Sep 2025, 29 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO6276461733.mp3

Join me as we discuss two high profile true crime disappearances. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 mysterious disappearances, Castaneda cult, Justice Crater, missing judge, cult mysteries, unsolved cases, true crime podcast, historical mysteries, unexplained vanishings, cold case disappearances

## Transcript

[0:00] In 1998, a famous spiritual guru and cult leader perished, and
[0:04] days later his devoted disciples vanished without a trace.
[0:08] Taisha Abelar and four other women from the same unusual cult
[0:12] went missing along with her. Decades later, the fate of
[0:15] Taisha and her companions remains 1 of California's most
[0:18] haunting, obscure unsolved mysteries.
[0:24] Taisha Abelar was born Marianne Simcoe and was an American
[0:28] anthropologist and author and one of the closest disciples of
[0:32] Carlos Castaneda. Castaneda was a New Age guru and
[0:36] best selling writer whose tales of a Yaqui shaman named Don Juan
[0:41] fascinated millions in the 1970s.
[0:44] Notably, these stories of this so-called real shaman are now
[0:49] suspected to have been faked, with Castaneda himself using
[0:53] this fictional character as the basis for his New Age movement.
[0:58] He was also an anthropology professor at UCLA, which gave
[1:02] him access to young women who he could recruit into his budding
[1:05] cult. In the early 1970s, as a student
[1:11] at UCLA, Abalar met Castaneda and soon joined his inner circle
[1:15] of female followers, a group he called the Witches.
[1:19] She embraced Castaneda's philosophy of erasing personal
[1:23] history. She changed her name, cut off
[1:26] contact with her family, and shrouded her life in secrecy.
[1:31] Abelar lived at Castaneda's Los Angeles compound and devoted
[1:36] herself entirely to his quote UN quote mystical teachings.
[1:41] Shockingly, like all the other members of his all female inner
[1:44] circle, she was also romantically involved with the
[1:47] Guru. Carlos Castaneda died on April
[1:53] 27th, 1998 from liver cancer. Castaneda had taught that he was
[1:59] an enlightened sorcerer who could leave this world in a
[2:01] truly miraculous way. His followers believe this
[2:05] wholeheartedly, but he perished in a mundane way and was quietly
[2:10] cremated. Just days after his passing,
[2:14] Taisha Abelar gathered up the four other closest associates of
[2:17] Castaneda. These women were Florinda
[2:20] Donner, Amalia Marquez, Kylie Lundahl, and Patricia Parton,
[2:27] all of these names being the alternative identities they had
[2:30] adopted as part of the group. They left behind no public
[2:35] announcements or goodbyes, having already severed ties with
[2:39] outsiders long before. At first, few even noticed they
[2:43] were gone, since the group's secretive lifestyle meant there
[2:46] were no immediate reports. Only months later did the
[2:50] peculiar truth emerge. The women known as Castaneda's
[2:53] witches had all slipped away after his passing.
[2:59] For several years, no trace of Taisha, Abelar or the others
[3:02] turned up. Some believed that they had gone
[3:05] to Mexico and posted up near where Castaneda's cremated
[3:08] remains had been released. After all, they were crazy
[3:12] cultists, and cultists are necessarily going to do weird
[3:16] and unusual things. Then, in 2003, hikers in Death
[3:23] Valley National Park came upon human skeletal remains bleached
[3:27] by the desert sun. The remains were eventually
[3:30] identified as Patricia Parton, one of the five missing women in
[3:34] Castaneda's longtime disciple, whom he had nicknamed his quote
[3:38] Blue Scout. Parton's car was reportedly
[3:42] found abandoned near a remote sand dune, not far from where
[3:46] her bones lay. This grim discovery intensified
[3:49] fears about the fate of Abelar and the others.
[3:55] Despite extensive wilderness searches, no evidence of the
[3:59] other four women was found in the area.
[4:02] Parton's death in the desert raised more questions than
[4:05] answers. An investigation suggested she
[4:08] may have died from dehydration or exposure, but there were
[4:12] puzzling signs that suggested she may have done it on purpose.
[4:16] Meanwhile, the missing women's families were left in limbo,
[4:21] desperate for answers. Some relatives even organized
[4:25] searches in Death Valley years later, scouring abandoned mines
[4:29] and desert expanses for any trace.
[4:32] But these efforts turned up nothing.
[4:35] After long years of false leads and frustration, most loved ones
[4:39] came to accept that Abelar and the others were likely never
[4:42] coming back. Over the years, several theories
[4:48] have been put forward about what happened to these missing women.
[4:51] The most widespread theory is that Abelar and the four women
[4:54] committed to leaving this earthly plane voluntarily after
[4:57] Castaneda's death. The idea of such a disturbing
[5:01] mass act immediately drew comparisons to infamous cult
[5:05] tragedies like Jonestown and Heaven's Gate.
[5:08] Former insiders have noted that the idea of following him into
[5:12] the next life was openly discussed in the group's final
[5:15] days. Castaneda's top female followers
[5:19] were fiercely loyal, and by some accounts, they had long agreed
[5:23] not to outlive their guru. One former member even recalled
[5:28] that Florinda Donner, one of the missing women, even talked about
[5:32] using her pilot's license to fly a plane into a Hawaiian volcano.
[5:37] This was apparently theorized to be some sort of bizarre way to
[5:41] achieve spiritual enlightenment. The discovery of Parton's body
[5:47] and Death Valley gave credence to the idea.
[5:50] Perhaps the desert was chosen as a solemn location for their
[5:53] final exit. However, the major complication
[5:57] is that only Parton's remains have been found.
[6:00] If all 5 went into Death Valley together for a last act, it's
[6:04] curious that only one set of remains turned up.
[6:08] This has LED some observers to question whether a synchronized
[6:11] event truly occurred or if the story was more complicated.
[6:17] Another theory claims that Taisha, Abelar and the others
[6:21] deliberately vanished to start new lives elsewhere.
[6:24] In this scenario, their disappearance was an
[6:27] orchestrated escape from scrutiny.
[6:30] There's evidence that in the weeks around Castaneda's death,
[6:34] his inner circle made plans for a possible getaway.
[6:38] They reportedly considered purchasing a large ocean going
[6:41] vessel, as if preparing to literally sail off into the
[6:45] sunset and beyond the reach of authorities.
[6:48] Further, Abelar and her peers were well versed in adopting new
[6:52] identities. They had lived under aliases for
[6:55] years and had cut ties with family, which would make
[6:59] disappearing easier financially. They weren't destitute, and
[7:05] Castaneda left a substantial sum of money and ongoing royalties
[7:09] from his book sales to this group of women.
[7:12] Some have speculated that this act is a clear indication that
[7:16] Castaneda had intended for the women to live and carry on their
[7:20] lives after he was gone. Investigations into the estate
[7:27] even hinted that some assets might have been siphoned off or
[7:29] hidden. It's conceivable that Abelar and
[7:32] her companions quietly took the money and fled the country.
[7:37] Some believe they could have gone to Latin America or Europe
[7:40] to live out their days under the radar.
[7:43] Given their lifelong practice of secrecy, they might have
[7:47] succeeded in staying hidden if they chose this path.
[7:50] However, until this day, no sightings of the women have ever
[7:54] occurred. A more sinister theory focuses
[8:00] on internal dynamics within the group.
[8:02] This hypothesis suggests that not everyone disappeared
[8:05] willingly or together. Notably, Patricia Parton was
[8:10] much younger, and some believe the others saw her as a
[8:13] liability when Castaneda was gone.
[8:17] Parton's own family members suspect that the group
[8:20] deliberately sent her to the desert on a false premise,
[8:23] intending to abandon her there. Under this theory, Parton may
[8:28] have been sacrificed to provide cover for the rest of the group,
[8:32] since finding her would imply that all members of the group
[8:36] perished. As of today, the disappearance
[8:41] of Taisha Abelar and the three other women remains unsolved.
[8:45] No official answers have ever emerged, and the case is as cold
[8:49] as it is disturbing. If Abelar were alive now, she
[8:53] would be in her 70s, yet there has not been a single credible
[8:57] sighting or clue of her existence since 1998.
[9:02] Most who have examined the case lean toward the belief that all
[9:06] the missing women are likely deceased, whether by their own
[9:09] design or through some tragedy tied to their cults collapse.
[9:16] When I think about Taisha Abelar's disappearance, I keep
[9:19] coming back to the possibility that she and some of the others
[9:22] actually managed to escape. Unlike other people I've
[9:26] profiled who may have disappeared intentionally, her
[9:29] life had always been defined by secrecy, discipline, and a
[9:33] careful crafting of new identities.
[9:36] She had already erased her past once, cutting ties with her
[9:40] family and even changing her name, so it seems plausible that
[9:44] she could have done it all over again.
[9:47] Further, the timing was perfect. Castaneda's demise created a
[9:51] distraction, and his estate provided money that could have
[9:54] fueled a fresh start. Further yet, there were
[9:58] financial irregularities with the estate, suggesting that she
[10:03] and other members may have been squirreling away resources in
[10:06] advance of Castaneda's passing. Abelar was intelligent,
[10:11] resourceful, and deeply committed to staying hidden from
[10:14] the outside world. It's not hard to imagine her
[10:18] slipping away under a new alias, perhaps abroad, where no one
[10:23] would ever think to look. Hey everyone, Jimmy here as
[10:29] usual with a big shout out to all subscribers, YouTube members
[10:33] and patrons. Also, don't forget to check out
[10:36] my new history video podcast, Lazy Chill History by clicking
[10:41] the link in the description. Also, don't forget to leave your
[10:44] suggestions for cases for me to cover in the comments.
[10:48] Don't be shy. It doesn't have to be some ultra
[10:50] obscure mystery. I've literally had people
[10:53] suggest I look into Bigfoot or Jack the Ripper.
[11:00] For more than 30 years after 1930, a lone woman would slip
[11:04] into a quiet Greenwich Village bar every August 6th and order 2
[11:08] cocktails. She would raise one glass in a
[11:11] silent toast to her absent companion, then depart, leaving
[11:15] the second drink untouched. The woman was Stella Crater, and
[11:20] the toast was for her missing husband, Judge Joseph Force
[11:24] Crater, who vanished on a warm summer night in 1930 and never
[11:28] returned. Crater's disappearance shocked
[11:32] the nation and became an instant media sensation.
[11:36] To this day, what happened to Judge Crater remains one of
[11:39] America's most notorious unsolved mysteries, a true tale
[11:43] of a man who stepped into a taxi and was never seen again.
[11:50] Joseph Force Crater was no ordinary missing person.
[11:54] He was a prominent New York judge and attorney at the height
[11:57] of a successful career. Born in 1889 to Irish immigrant
[12:02] parents in Pennsylvania, Crater climbed the ranks of the legal
[12:06] world through talent and political savvy.
[12:09] He practiced law in Manhattan and became deeply involved with
[12:13] Tammany Hall, the powerful Democratic political machine
[12:17] that dominated New York City politics.
[12:21] Through his work with Tammany leader Martin Healey, Crater
[12:24] earned lucrative court appointments and cultivated
[12:27] influential connections. In one notable case in 1929, he
[12:33] handled a hotel foreclosure that led to a spectacular profit for
[12:37] a well connected buyer, raising eyebrows about insider deal
[12:41] making in Craters Circle. By 1930, Craters loyalty and
[12:46] networking paid off. Governor Franklin D Roosevelt
[12:50] appointed him to fill a vacancy on the New York State Supreme
[12:53] Court, a prestigious judgeship, in April of that year.
[12:58] At just 41 years old, Crater was considered very young for the
[13:02] position and was seen as a rising star in New York's
[13:06] judiciary. Backed by both political
[13:08] patronage and genuine ability, Justice Crater was even seen as
[13:14] someone who may eventually make it onto the Supreme Court one
[13:17] day. Despite his marriage to Stella,
[13:22] Judge Crater had a reputation as a man about town, and he had no
[13:26] problem doing a little bit of pipe fitting work on the side.
[13:29] Tall, well dressed, and sociable, he loved the nightlife
[13:33] of Jazz Age New York. Friends nicknamed him Good Time
[13:37] Joe for his penchant for piano playing, dancing, and mingling
[13:41] with showgirls and Broadway speakeasies.
[13:44] He moved in both high society and more unsavory circles,
[13:48] rubbing elbows with politicians, business magnates and the
[13:52] occasional gangster. In the summer of 1930, only
[13:58] months after Crater joined the state Supreme Court, trouble was
[14:02] brewing in New York's halls of power.
[14:05] The Manhattan District Attorney had launched A corruption
[14:07] inquiry into Tammany Hall's practice of selling judgeships
[14:10] to the highest bidder. Judge Crater appeared
[14:14] unperturbed at first, vacationing with Stella at their
[14:17] lakeside summer home in Maine. But on August 3rd, 1930, Crater
[14:23] received an urgent phone call and abruptly announced to his
[14:27] wife that he had to return to the city to straighten things
[14:29] out. He promised to be back in Maine
[14:32] in time for Stella's birthday on August 9th.
[14:36] In reality, instead of immediately tending to any
[14:39] official business, Crater detoured to the beach resort of
[14:42] Atlantic City with a young showgirl, Sally Lou Ritz, in
[14:47] tow. And yeah, since I can't resist a
[14:49] good bit of humor, it appears that the good judge was
[14:52] straightening certain things out.
[14:54] At the very least, this secret jaunt with a chorus girl would
[15:00] only come to light later, hinting that Crater had personal
[15:03] matters or pleasures occupying his time even as political
[15:08] storms gathered. Judge Crater arrived back in
[15:12] Manhattan on August 6th, 1930, the last day he was seen alive.
[15:18] That morning he went into his chambers at the courthouse and
[15:22] spent a couple of hours methodically sorting through his
[15:25] files, even reportedly destroying some documents.
[15:30] He had his assistant cash 2 checks for him and withdrew the
[15:34] modern equivalent of almost $100,000.
[15:38] Crater and the assistant then brought 2 locked briefcases from
[15:41] his office to his apartment, after which the judge dismissed
[15:45] his aid for the day. These actions later struck
[15:48] investigators as suspicious, as if Crater were tying up loose
[15:52] ends or stashing something important.
[15:56] That evening, Judge Crater continued his routine of
[15:59] enjoying the town. He purchased a ticket for a new
[16:02] Broadway comedy at the Belasco Theater and then headed to
[16:06] dinner at Billy Hass's Chop House on West 45th St.
[16:11] His dining companions were William Klein, a fellow lawyer
[16:14] and friend, and the ever present Sally Lou Ritz, the showgirl
[16:19] from his Atlantic City trip. The trio ate, drank and laughed
[16:24] together, with Crater reportedly in fine spirits.
[16:28] Sometime around 9:00 that evening, as the group stood
[16:31] outside the restaurant, Crater hailed a taxi cab passing by.
[16:36] No one would ever definitively see Judge Joseph Crater again.
[16:41] At first, no alarm was raised, and when Crater failed to return
[16:45] to Maine for Stella's birthday, she grew annoyed but assumed her
[16:49] husband's work had delayed him. Crater's colleagues in New York
[16:54] also thought little of his absence, believing he was still
[16:57] vacationing in Maine. Only after a week passed with no
[17:01] word did Stella begin making anxious phone calls to friends
[17:05] in the city, searching for any sign of him.
[17:09] On August 25th, the New York courts reopened for a new term
[17:13] and were notably 1 Judge Short. Crater's fellow justices,
[17:17] realizing he was neither in Maine nor at work, initiated
[17:21] quiet inquiries into his whereabouts.
[17:24] When these discreet efforts turned up nothing, the police
[17:27] were finally notified on September 3rd, 1930.
[17:34] The story of the missing judge hit the front pages the next
[17:36] day, and a frenzy of speculation ensued.
[17:40] A massive investigation swung into motion.
[17:43] Detectives discovered that Crater's personal safe deposit
[17:47] box had been mysteriously emptied, and those two
[17:50] briefcases he'd taken home had vanished without a trace.
[17:55] These leads went nowhere, however, as tips and alleged
[17:58] sightings of the missing judge flooded in from all over.
[18:02] In October 1930, a grand jury was impaneled to examine the
[18:07] case in exhaustive detail. 95 witnesses were called and nearly
[18:12] 1000 pages of testimony collected.
[18:15] The inquiry delved into Craters bank records, phone calls and
[18:19] relationships, trying to piece together a puzzle with precious
[18:23] few pieces. Throughout.
[18:26] Stella Crater remained in Maine, refusing to face what she
[18:29] considered accusatory treatment by authorities and scandal
[18:32] hungry newspapers. In January 1931, after months of
[18:39] hearings, the grand jury concluded its investigation with
[18:43] a frustrating shrug. In short, they couldn't say if
[18:47] he was alive or dead, let alone what caused his disappearance.
[18:51] In a bizarre twist, just days after the grand jury disbanded,
[18:56] Stella Crater made a discovery that only deepened the mystery.
[19:01] While cleaning out her husband's dresser back in their New York
[19:03] apartment, she found a secret compartment containing 4
[19:07] envelopes. Inside were stacks of stocks and
[19:10] bonds, checks, life insurance papers and Craters Will, all
[19:15] documents that had been missed in prior police searches.
[19:19] There was also a handwritten note from Crater himself.
[19:23] In it, the judge had listed various debts owed to him and
[19:27] included a brief, poignant message to Stella that hinted at
[19:31] his despair and ended with a loving goodbye.
[19:36] The cash suggested that Crater might have anticipated some
[19:39] trouble, but it yielded no concrete clues as to his fate.
[19:44] He was officially declared dead in absentia in 1939, allowing
[19:49] Stella to collect life insurance.
[19:52] Decades later, in 1979, the NYPD finally closed the case without
[19:59] resolution. From the moment the story broke
[20:04] in 1930, the disappearance of Judge Crater generated a
[20:08] whirlwind of theories. Over the years, professional
[20:12] investigators and amateur sleuths alike have proposed many
[20:16] possible explanations, each as compelling as it is unprovable.
[20:21] The tale has all the ingredients of a great mystery, including
[20:24] political intrigue, gangsters, showgirls and a man who
[20:29] seemingly evaporated into thin air.
[20:34] One early theory was that Crater chose to vanish of his own
[20:37] accord. It seemed implausible that a man
[20:40] of his stature would abandoned his career and wife without a
[20:43] word. Yet some pointed to the large
[20:46] sum of cash he withdrew and the documents he took as signs of a
[20:51] planned getaway. In the years after 1930,
[20:55] reported Crater sightings cropped up across the country
[20:59] and even overseas, fueling the idea that he might still be
[21:03] alive under an assumed identity. Tipsters claimed to have seen a
[21:08] man resembling Crater in far-flung locales ranging from
[21:11] rural Canada to the South Pacific.
[21:14] Carnival workers, gold prospectors, and even a man in
[21:18] the French Foreign Legion were rumored to be the missing judge
[21:22] in disguise. Another theory suggested Crater
[21:27] met with an accidental death that was then covered up.
[21:30] For example, lurid rumors hinted he might have suffered a heart
[21:34] attack in the company of a lady of the night, and any witnesses
[21:38] disposed of the body rather than face scandal.
[21:41] After all, Crater was known for enjoying good times, so this
[21:46] didn't seem too unlikely. Given Judge Crater's ties to
[21:51] Tammany Hall and the timing of his disappearance, many have
[21:55] suspected that political corruption was at the heart of
[21:58] this mystery. Crater had been a cog in
[22:01] Tammany's powerful machine, and he literally owed his judgeship
[22:05] to their influence. He likely knew about the murky
[22:09] transactions involved in buying and selling public offices.
[22:13] In mid 1930, a state investigation was zeroing in on
[22:17] Tammany's judicial corruption, and Crater's mentor, Martin
[22:21] Healey, was under scrutiny. The theory goes that Crater
[22:25] might have been ready to talk, or at least that others feared
[22:29] he would talk. Eliminating the judge could have
[22:32] been a convenient way for higher ups to protect themselves.
[22:36] Some even whispered of a connection to Franklin D
[22:38] Roosevelt, who was then New York's governor and had
[22:42] presidential ambitions. The logic being that if a
[22:46] scandal about selling judgeships blew up, it could tarnish
[22:50] Roosevelt on the national stage. Notably, years later, foes of
[22:55] Roosevelt would insinuate that FDR's allies knew more about
[22:59] Crater's fate, darkly suggesting that he knew where the body was.
[23:04] While there's no proof of any connection to Tammany Hall, this
[23:08] powerful and corrupt organization had benefited from
[23:11] extrajudicial usage of force in the past.
[23:17] Closely intertwined with the political angle is the
[23:19] possibility that organized crime figures played a role.
[23:24] New York's underworld and its political world were often two
[23:27] sides of the same coin in that era.
[23:30] Judge Crater was known to enjoy late nights in the city's clubs
[23:34] and had rubbed shoulders with some infamous characters.
[23:38] He was friendly with Irish gangster Jack Diamond and
[23:41] distraught over the 1928 slaying of his acquaintance Arnold
[23:45] Rothstein. Such connections have long fed
[23:49] the theory that Crater knew too much about the criminal
[23:51] underbelly of the city. Perhaps he stumbled into
[23:55] information that made him a liability, or perhaps someone in
[23:58] the mob felt the judge hadn't delivered on a promise.
[24:03] Another set of theories suggests that he was blackmailed by
[24:06] someone he was having an affair with or a woman of whom he was a
[24:10] regular client. Under this theory, he had
[24:13] routinely been paying off large amounts of hush money to this
[24:16] woman in exchange for her silence.
[24:20] However, it's speculated that the last payment was
[24:22] insufficient and she had a local gangster take him out.
[24:27] Personally, I don't find this narrative to be incredibly
[24:30] compelling since if it's true, she permanently cut off the
[24:34] source of her extortion. After all, he was a politically
[24:39] well connected judge and he would have further money or
[24:42] influence to extort in the future.
[24:45] Simply put, I think this is likely just a lurid theory that
[24:48] was drummed up to sell newspapers back in the day.
[24:54] For decades, the mystery of Judge Crater remained stubbornly
[24:57] unsolved until a stunning potential clue emerged 75 years
[25:02] later. In August 2005, New York
[25:05] authorities announced they had obtained new evidence in the
[25:08] cold case, a handwritten letter left by a 91 year old widow
[25:14] named Stella Ferrucci Good. This woman had been the wife of
[25:18] a detective, and in a letter opened after she had perished,
[25:22] she revealed an explosive story her husband had allegedly told
[25:26] her. According to Ferrucci Good's
[25:29] letter, Judge Crater had indeed been slain back in 1930, not by
[25:34] mobsters or jilted lovers, but by two men, one of them who wore
[25:39] a badge. The letter named a New York City
[25:42] police officer, Charles Burns, and his brother Frank, who
[25:47] happened to be a cab driver. On the night of August 6th,
[25:53] 1930, the story went, the Burns brothers somehow intercepted
[25:57] Crater. They eliminated the judge and
[26:00] then buried his body under the Coney Island boardwalk in
[26:03] Brooklyn. Incredibly, the letter also tied
[26:07] Charles Burns to other violence of the era.
[26:13] Investigators in 2005 were initially intrigued, and they
[26:16] noted the area mentioned, W 8th St. on Coney Island, now the
[26:22] site of the New York Aquarium, had indeed been excavated during
[26:26] construction in the 1950s. And actually, let me just jump
[26:32] in here for a second, since as I was doing the editing on this
[26:35] video, I realized something. Coney Island isn't an actual
[26:39] island anymore, and hasn't been one for well over a century when
[26:44] an engineering project connected it to Brooklyn.
[26:49] Anyway, if a skeleton had been found, then it was never
[26:52] reported. Police records showed no such
[26:56] discovery, and a preliminary check of municipal works didn't
[26:59] turn up any bones either. This late breaking confession
[27:04] left more questions than answers.
[27:07] No one could say if the detective's tale was true or if
[27:10] it was just a fanciful story that he told to his wife.
[27:15] Since Stella had already passed away by the time the letter was
[27:18] opened, there was no opportunity to question her about the
[27:21] contents of the letter further. Yet the evidence is hearsay from
[27:26] a person who isn't even alive, giving evidence about a supposed
[27:30] conversation with another person who also isn't alive.
[27:35] This is, of course, extremely problematic, as aside from
[27:39] confirming that her husband was indeed a police officer, nothing
[27:43] else could be known for certain. Stella herself could have simply
[27:47] been an avid follower of the case with a bit of a sick sense
[27:50] of humor, looking to insert herself into the investigation
[27:54] from beyond the grave. And if that was her intent,
[27:58] well, then she definitely succeeded.
[28:02] At any rate, no physical evidence was recovered to
[28:05] substantiate the claim, and skeptics pointed out
[28:08] inconsistencies in the years following Crater's
[28:13] disappearance. His name became a punch line and
[28:16] a piece of Americana, even as his wife quietly kept her vow to
[28:20] never forget him. The very phrase to pull a crater
[28:25] entered the lexicon as slang for vanishing without a trace, and
[28:30] from my research, it looks as though this phrase would have
[28:33] essentially been used in the same way we use the phrase
[28:35] ghosting today. Whatever the case, Justice
[28:41] Crater's disappearance likely remains such a popular unsolved
[28:45] mystery because there are so many possibilities as to what
[28:48] happened. Further, some of these
[28:51] possibilities credibly intersect with big names in both New York
[28:54] history and American history.

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